Tomb Raider: The Battle Continues Rewrite
by HorseLover32
Summary: The rewritten version of my first Tomb Raider Fanfiction. Why? I believe I can improve it. Read the original if you wish. Please R&R. I own nothing, but the OCs that riddle this story.
1. Chapter 1

Tomb Raider: The battle Continues *Rewrite*

Well here it is the rewrite of The Battle Continues begins now. I might be slow with updates as I will be busy trying to figure out how to go about college. Still, I hope you enjoy and to anyone who read the original. Welcome back. I appreciate your support. Well, let's get onto this.

Prologue

** Strahov Fortress, Czech Republic**

Kurtis Trent laid on the rusted metal grating on the floor of the arena where he had just fought the mutated Kristina Boaz, who was now a freshly decapitated corpse. There was no use in celebrating now. Kurtis did the most stupid mistake that his father has warned him never to do in battle. He could just hear his father scolding him during a training session as he had done throughout his adolescence.

"Kurtis, I've told you time and time again not to turn your back on your enemy! In a real battle, your opponent will have the chance to strike you down." The old man was right. Now he was doubled over on the floor of the arena laying in a slowly growing pool of his own blood. He no longer had the strength to lay on his side and rolled onto his back still clutching his stomach in an attempt to slow the flow of bleeding. As his vision started to fade to black, Kurtis heard footsteps echo on the metal and concrete floor of the arena. A woman's face looked down at him and she was accompanied by a large man and another woman.

"My dear brother, how can you get yourself into so much trouble." the first woman said before turning to the other woman.

"Ophelia, do you think you can save him?"

"This is the worst injury I have ever seen, but I think I can."

"Good. Vaughn we'll need you to help us get him out of here."

" Of course." With that, the man called Vaughn hoisted Kurtis over his shoulder. Kurtis had already passed out and his Chirugai was left sitting in the pool of crimson. Ophelia moved to retrieve the weapon, but the woman in charge stopped her.

"No, leave it. One day we may need Ms. Croft's assistance if The Cabal manages to reform, even if she manages to destroy Eckhardt. Besides, Kurtis needs your help more than he needs the chirugai." Ophelia nodded and followed the others out.

**Nearly two hours later**

Lara made her way back to the arena. She was wounded from her fight with Eckhardt and then Karel, but she was victorious. She leaned against the gear that opened the door releasing Boaz to rest. Her eyes scanned around looking for Kurtis. She spotted the crimson pool. She limped towards it and saw the chirugai laying in the blood pool. She picked up the circular weapon. Once she picked it up the blades snapped out of it like a switchblade and pulled her towards the door where Boaz emerged from earlier. She stood for a moment, but then walked into the darkness and made her way out of the Strahov thinking of her ally and wondering what had become of him.

**Croft Manor, Surrey, England One Month later**

Lara Croft sat in her study with an open book of artifacts trying to figure out what her next adventure would be. After the police raided the Strahov. They found the brutally murdered Luddick, numerous sanitorium inmates, and proof of Eckhardt being the Monstrum. She was cleared of all suspicion and returned home to Surrey. Things seem to be back to normal. Kurtis's chirugai now sat on Lara's desk.

At this point, Lara reasoned that Kurtis had died of his injuries after all the amount of blood that had been in that pool was definitely fatal if he didn't get medical attention. Life must go on though and Lara grabbed another book of artifacts to continue her search for adventure.

** Unknown location, somewhere in the United States**

Three knocks fell on the heavy door. "Enter." A woman's voice cut through the door to the other side. The door opened slowly allowing light to spill into the dim study.

"You called for me?" The man who was standing at the other side of the door said as he stepped into the study.

"Yes, one of Jarmil Vasily's spies have informed me that the Cabal is possibly going to take out Lady Croft. They've regrouped and are planning to awaken _her_. We may need Lady Croft's help and I am sending you to Surrey and bring her here before the Cabal moves to kill her. Am I clear?"

"Yes, consider it done." The man agreed and turned to leave his superior's study. He had thought ahead and packed a suitcase in case he was being sent out on a mission.

" I hope this is a wise decision to let a non-Lux Veritatis come into our den of secrets, my dear." He said under his breath as he walked out of the long hall where the office was located.

Hoped you all liked the revised prologue. I'll start working on chapter one for the next few days. Please R&R


	2. Abduction

Disclaimer: I do not own Tomb Raider. Eidos and Crystal Dynamics do.

Chapter One: Abduction

*Next Evening*

Lara had been training hard all day and decided after taking a quick shower and having a light meal, to spend the evening winding down in her study. Before reaching her desk, Lara scanned her bookshelf to look for something to research. Her eyes were drawn to a leather bound book that she usually passed over. She flipped through the book to find that it was a handwritten manuscript and contained a wealth of information about the Lux Veritatis. Despite her certainty of her involvement with anything related to the Lux Veritatis was over. She still was interested in learning what she could about them. She found a page with a sketch of the weapon still laying on her desk. It was called a chirugai and it was mostly used in close quarters, but was also used as a ranged weapon if the wielder was trained to manipulate it mentally. The blades were also controlled in this manner. " Then Kurtis must have been alive when this pulled me towards Boaz's door." Lara said out loud as she closely examined the weapon. Then from just outside of the study, a floorboard creaked loudly. It couldn't be Winston as Lara gave him some time off to visit some relatives. Lara stood up and silently walked towards the door with one of her pistols that she kept stashed in her desk in hand. She quickly threw open the door and pointed her pistol into the darkened hallway. Lara turned back and walked back to her desk, but she was grabbed roughly from someone who had took the moment that she was in the hall to slink into the study and hide behind the door. Lara's assalent pressed a damp cloth that had a strong chemical odor to her mouth and nose and within seconds everything faded to black. Before taking Lara from the manor, the intruder took both the book on the Lux Veritatis and the Chirugai from the desk. Lara was unconscious for several hours. Long enough for her abductor to drive her to an airstrip where a small airplane was waiting, be placed in a seat and flown to Utah. Lara regained consciousness. The intruder to and found herself in the backseat of a car with tinted windows. She noticed that in between the backseat and front seat was a pane of shatterproof felt that her wrists were bound behind her back. The driver drove for about forty-five minutes until he pulled into somewhere are parked. The driver exited the car and walked to one of the back doors and took her out of the car. He was obviously very strong, but he wasn't doing anything that might injure her much to Lara's surprise. "Bloody hell. I guess my life is being threatened by another insane madman or something like that."

"You are in no danger here. I am sorry, but that is all I am permitted to tell you for now, but be sure that you will have answers shorty after you get to that mansion." the man that was behind her urging her towards a mansion nearly the size of her own a few yards away. Lara started to pick up her pace to get her answers sooner. Once they reached the front door, Lara felt some apprehension. She didn't exactly know what the hell was going on and why kidnap her instead of try contacting her if whoever ordered her abduction wanted to speak with her.

" The choice is yours alone now, but if you choose to leave you may never again have a chance to learn about the Lux Veritatis or find out what became of your ally, Kurtis." the man spoke from behind her. With that said she shook off her inhibitions and opened the door.

Thank you for reading this chapter of my rewrite. Please R&R


	3. Lady Heissturm

Note: I recently realized that I've been spelling Heissturm Huissterm. Therefore incorrectly and I will no longer do that.

Chapter Two: Lady Heissturm

It was dark in the manor's foyer with the exception of a light that was on illuminating the upper part of the room. The man behind her urged her up the stairs leading to the upper part of the foyer. Once up the stairs, Lara noticed that there was a hallway leading down to a set of double doors. The man behind her moved in front of her. Now that she was in a lit area, Lara could see that he was at least six feet tall and very powerful. He also had short pale blond hair and steel-gray eyes. Lara continued towards the doors at the end of the hall. She briefly wondered if she was being brought straight into danger.

"As I said, you are completely safe here. _She_ will explain everything." the man said

"She?" Lara asked.

"The woman that I answer to, my leader might be the best word to describe whom I am talking about." He said as they reached the door. Lara noticed that on each door was a very familiar symbol that looked like a barbed arrow pointing down. She remembered seeing it in Von Croy's journal and the book she found in her study. It must be related to The Lux Veritatis.

"I wouldn't keep her waiting. My Lady is not the most patient woman in the world." the man warned. Lara decided to get this over with and pushed the doors open. The doors revealed a large study similar to the one in Vasily's apartment just without the scaffolding, the floor did not have the clock-like design instead it was a sun shaped circle with a smaller circle within it. On the smaller circle was the lux Veritatis symbol again.

"You took your time, Vaughn." A woman said from a desk that was just a few inches away from the design on the floor. She had long black wavy hair and very familiar blue eyes.

"Thank you Vaughn. You may take your leave."

"Of course." The man said as he turned around and left the room making sure to close the door behind him.

"Ms. Croft please take a seat." the woman said gesturing to a plush looking chair in front of the desk. Lara went to sit down, but kept her eyes fixed on the woman in front of her suspiciously.

"I am sorry for how I had to have you brought here. I know you are quite aggravated"

" Why wouldn't I be! I was abducted from my home and I have no idea where I am! All in all I want to know why the hell I am here!" Lara shouted.

" You were in quite the ordeal last month. Your mentor was murdered, you were accused of said murder and became a fugitive. Among that mess, you got wrapped up in ending a plot that could have ended humanity as we know it. You had to stop the Cabal from awakening the last Nephilim, The Sleeper. I'm sure that you thought that you'd never need t hear the words "Cabal" or Nephilim again in your life. I'm sad to say that is not true." The woman described Lara's last adventure with such accuracy that she was almost taken aback.

" Who are you exactly and how do you know all this?"

" I am Caylis Heissturm. I am the leader of one of the three surviving Lux Veritatis factions. I therefore make sure I know everything about events and people that are connected to The Lux Veritatis." The woman, Caylis spoke with pride, dignity, and authority.

"The Lux Veritatis! I thought that was an extinct order. Kurtis seemed to be the last of them." Lara thought.

" Few things in life are certain. My faction alone was nearly wiped out if it wasn't for some last minute orders by my father to flee from here once we received word of Eckhardt getting close to here. They got here sooner than we thought and I ended up watching Eckhardt murder my father from that closet over there." Caylis said as she pointed to a closet on the far end of the room. " We have managed to use our wits to stay at least a few jumps ahead of the Cabal and thus here we still are. That isn't important though. The Cabak still remains and under the leadership of Karel, whom we both know is a Nephilim. He has a new plan and since you thwarted his last one. You are a liability and the reformed Cabal will stop at nothing to rid themselves of you. No the explosion did not kill Karel, Nephilim are irritatingly resilient. Any way it is late and I am sure that you must be tired. I will show you to where you can sleep for the night." Caylis stood from her desk. Once she stepped out from behind the desk, two large dogs, one rottweiler and a German Shepherd stood up from the side of the desk. Lara didn't notice them before. Both dogs yawned and the first thing that stood out to Lara was that both dogs had unusually long and saber-looking canine teeth that poked out from the dogs' mouths even when they closed them.

"Don't worry. They will not harm you." Caylis said as both dogs stood to either side of her. Lara stayed close behind as Caylis lead her out of the study and up the hall back to the second floor of the foyer and turned left to a door, there was a stairwell behind the door. Lara followed Caylis up the flight of stairs and out another door to a hallway with five doors lined up on both sides of the hall, each also bearing the Lux Veritatis symbol. Caylis opened one door revealing a nice sized guestroom.

" Good night. I will introduce you to the rest of my faction tomorrow morning." Caylis said as she closed the door and left presumably to her own bedroom.


	4. The Fate of An Ally

Chapter Three: The fate of an ally

* Unknown Location, 9:23 A.M*

Lara was awoken by a loud knocking on the door. She groggily open her eyes. She wasn't in her bedroom at Croft Manor so her abduction was definitely not a dream. Thus everything Caylis said wasn't a dream either. After another sharp and increasingly urgent knock rang out from the door, Lara got up and opened it to face the same man who brought her here.

"Oh, it's you again." she said nearly growling.

"Well,Caylis sent me to bring you down for breakfast. Which would ordinarily have been over an hour ago if Caylis hadn't insisted on waiting for you."

"I always thought that a great archaeologist such as yourself would wake up earlier."

"What time is it?"

"Nearly 9:30 in the morning."

"It is rather late. Did the chemical you drugged me with have anything to do with that?"

"Honestly, I don't know. It was an experimental anesthetic that the faction doctor was testing for use for emergency surgeries. I'll need to tell her that it works and is as far as I can tell safe for human use. That will need to happen later, right now I am supposed to bring you to the dining room. The rest of the faction is getting very impatient, but Caylis insists that you join us for breakfast." Lara was feeling quite hungry so she nodded and followed her abductor down the hall and through the door to the stairwell and down to the second level of the foyer. They walked down the stairs leading to the ground floor of the foyer.

"This way." The man said as he turned to a door on the right side of the foyer. He opened the door and Lara followed him into a dining room. There were many people around a long table with Caylis sitting at the head of it talking to a young woman. Caylis was also holding a baby who was possibly about six months old in her arms. Once Caylis finished her conversation, she noticed Lara and waved her over to an empty seat at her end of the table. On her way to the empty seat, Lara noticed the trays of food that were untouched on the table kept warm by hot plates. So they were indeed waiting for her to join them. Lara sat at an empty chair close to where Caylis was sitting. The woman walked away to sit with a younger girl possibly her sister. A blonde woman in her mid thirties sat to Caylis's left while Vaughn was at her right. The table wasn't entirely full as several seats were still vacant.

"Where are some of the others?" Lara asked Caylis looked up from the baby cradled in her arms to scan around the table before answering.

" Well we have one young man who is currently in France with the Limoux faction for extra training and then there is my brother. He has been estranged from our faction for several years, but recently we tracked him down, but before we got to him he was mortally wounded. Ophelia, the woman I was talking to is our faction's doctor and she managed to save him from what might have been certain death. He is in the infirmary, and he is also part of why you are here."

"What do you mean?"

" You will see once breakfast is over. Please help yourself to the food. Everyone is present so we all can eat now." Caylis said before giving the ok for everyone to eat. The trays of food were taken off the hot plates and passed around for everyone to choose what they wanted. Caylis didn't put anything on her plate until everyone else had filled theirs. An empty bottle was next to her plate, so the baby had probably been fed first. Lara hadn't noticed before, but there were two children next to Vaughn, a boy and a girl who were having a bit of an argument until both Caylis and Vaughn put an end to it rather quickly. At the end of the meal, Caylis called everyone to attention once more and all chatter abruptly ceased and everyone remained in their seats. " I am holding a meeting at noon. All of you are required to attend." With that, everyone but Vaughn, Caylis, the young woman whom Caylis was talking with earlier, and a teenage girl who bore a likeness to the other woman. " Ophelia, Rosa I would like you both to bring Ms. Croft to the infirmary to expel any doubts about who we say we are. Please bring some food for your patient as well." Caylis directed.

"Of course my lady, Ms Croft, please follow us." The older woman said as she walked through a door at the far end of the room behind where Caylis sat and the girl whom Lara assumed was Rosa walked just in front of Lara and looked back every so often to make sure that Lara was still following. The door lead into a kitchen area with a very large pantry. Both women walked into the pantry which was well stocked with food and had one rectangular crate against the back wall that was padlocked. Ophelia pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked the crate. She opened it which revealed a staircase leading down below the mansion. Ophelia and Rosa both flicked a switch to illuminate the staircase. It was a rather short trek to reach the bottom where a set of double doors, similar to the doors you would enter to get into a hospital ward lay in front of them. The two continued onwards into what looked like a hospital ward crossed with a laboratory. Each room was labeled with either "Laboratory" or "Medical" and a number. They reached a room labeled "Medical #2- Intensive care"

"How rude of me. We never introduced ourselves. I am Ophelia Boaz and this is my younger sister, Rosa." Ophelia said before opening the door to the room and turning on the lights.

" You could've warned me before turning the lights on dammit." a very familiar voice rang out as a figure laying on one of the beds in the room got up into a sitting position. It was Kurtis! The man had made it out of the Strahov alive.


	5. The Meeting

Note: I yet again was spelling something wrong. Ophelia's name is supposed to be the Spanish variant "Ofelia"

Chapter Four: The Meeting

" How is this possible? That blood pool was massive. Yet, here he is right in front of me." Lara thought as Rosa wheeled a tray over and placed the food she brought for him down. Kurtis wasted no time in eating.

"Once you get done. I'm going to do a quick check of your vitals and then check your wound. Hopefully, I don't need to re-wrap it and you can come with us to the meeting Caylis is calling at noon." Ofelia said. Kurtis swallowed a forkful of his food before nodding. Kurtis allowed Ofelia to check his vitals as he finished his breakfast.

" Your vitals are all good. Now to check that wound. It should be good to go by now, but I want to be sure that my skills have not failed." Ofelia said as she began to unwrap Kurtis's bandaged lower torso to reveal skin that bore a large wicked scar, but yet looked otherwise like healthy new tissue.

" I think you're ready to leave my infirmary, but I will need daily updates on any pain or numbness since while what Tia became may have narrowly missed your spine, but there were nerves affected by her attack and I need to know if you have any of those symptoms. Do you understand?"

" Yes, Doctor Boaz," Kurtis said with a nod.

" Ofelia, It's almost noon. We should get going. Kurtis, Vaughn left a shirt you can borrow so wear that." Kurtis found the black T-shirt at the foot of his bed and quickly tugged it on before standing up. He looked next to his bed to find his shoes and slipped them on.

"Ok. I'll all set." Kurtis stated.

" Are you ready to go, Miss Croft?" Rosa asked.

" Yes, let's go" The three all left the room and began to go back the way that Ofelia and Rosa had brought Lara down to the infirmary. Lara decided that this was as good of a time as any to find out exactly what transpired while she was fighting both Eckhardt and Karel.

" Kurtis?"

" Yeah?"

" What exactly happened to you when we split up?"

" Well I fought Boaz and when I thought she was done for. She turned into this bug thing and stabbed me while my back was turned, but my chirugi took care of her. I laid their ready to die when I hear footsteps coming up to me and I look up to see embers of my Lux Veritatis faction looking down at me. They were Ofelia, Vaughn, and my younger sister, Caylis. Ofelia managed to use a bit of modern medicine mixed with Lux Veritatis magic or something to stop the bleeding until we got to the Vassily Faction's base of operation which was kind of in chaos because the leader was killed by the so called "Monstrum". Ofelia and the Vasily Faction doctor managed to close everything up after a twelve hour surgery and after a few weeks there, we came back here. I had the lecture and guilt trip of a lifetime by my younger sister, who leads the faction by the way. I've been in here for the last few months and then you show up."

" I found that weapon of yours, but it's back home."

" Don't worry about it, Vaughn brought it back for me. I don't understand why it was left behind though."

" Maybe I was supposed to find it, make me wonder what happened to you and eventually seek you out." Lara said as they reached the door to the stairs leading up the way they came.

" Rosa, can we pick up the pace? I know my sister and she gets real pissed when people are late for meetings."

" Kurtis are you the brother that Caylis mentioned at breakfast?"

" She only has one brother, so yeah. That was me."

" If the Lux Veritatis still exists, then why weren't you here with them?"

" It's a long story, but I left the faction. For reasons that I prefer not to discuss. I should've figured that after all this time, Caylis would track me down." Kurtis suddenly fell silent. Lara looked up t see that Rosa was listening in on their conservation. Lara also noted that they had entered the dining room which was pristine, spotless, and silent down that no one was eating there. The group passed through the room and out the door into the foyer. Across the hall was another door. Ofelia lead the group to the door and opened it to reveal a living area. Most of the faction gathered in the room, most sitting on loveseats and armchairs that were arranged in a semi-circle facing Caylis who was sitting on a chair at the front of the room still holding the baby that she was holding during breakfast. The two children from earlier were quietly playing next to Vaughn who was reading a book while standing against a bookshelf next to where Caylis was sitting. Ofelia, Rosa, Kurtis, and Lara each found a seat. Caylis's deep blue eyes scanned the room to make sure that everyone was in attendance.

" Now that we are all here. I will now begin this meeting. I am sure that you all have noticed that we have a guest with us. She is the woman who teamed up with my brother to put an end to the Cabal's scheme to awake the "Sleeper". I had Vaughn bring her here because The Cabal has reformed with the Nephilim, Karel as its leader." Caylis was cut off my a wave of surprised chatter from the faction members in the room, even the two children stopped in the middle of their playing.

" haltet alle den Mund!" Vaughn hollered causing a few people to jump, and silenced the room allowing Caylis to continue speaking without shouting over the voices of the faction she leads.

" As I was saying, The Cabal is now being lead by Joachim Karel who has been revealed to be a Nephilim within the past month. Our guest, Ms. Croft has gone up against him and according to Lux Veritatis spies in Prague, has planned to kill her. The Nephilim's new plan to revive his race is to awaken another "sleeping" nephilim. One that was sealed away over three hundred years ago. We know her as the _Angelicus Mortis_." As the name fell from Caylis's tongue, the room began to fill with more concerned chatter. Vaughn loudly cleared his throat as a cue for everyone to shut up yet again. A girl no older than fourteen who had been sitting next to Sandra raised her hand as if she was in school.

" Yes, Elizabeth." Caylis said giving her a chance to speak.

" I just want to know, how will the Cabal be able to awaken the _Angelicus Mortis._ If they couldn't awake The Sleeper _?"_

" She was sealed within stone in A Lux Veritatis tomb. If everyone recalls, tombs are guarded by either spirits of knights or foul creatures that are imprisoned. All one must do to release them is to read a phrase on the tomb they are trapped in." Caylis's answer made sense to Lara as she'd released Brother Obscura's spirit by reading the Latin phrase on his tomb. If releasing a powerful Nephilim was just as easy, she could understand the concern.

" Of course, The Lux Veritatis of the past were not stupid. It is much more complicated to awaken a prisoner and there is an artifact split in halves within two other tombs where The _Angelicus Mortis_ is trapped in. Once both halves are acquired, then the artifact can be reforged into its entirety. I will continue looking into the artifact and will explain further soon. I now call this meeting to an end, but I will be requesting a gathering of all three factions. We will need to stand together for this. I will be continuing my research into the artifact. I ask that everyone begin to prepare for an early start tomorrow in case my request is met with positive feedback. I will speak more on this once we all meet for dinner this evening. You are all dismissed." 


End file.
